High Voltage’s first installment in the Conduit series fell a little short from expectations. Many passed the Conduit off as a good first attempt but expected more from the sequel. I believe the Conduit 2 did a good job trying to meet those expectations.

I will admit I could not get passed the story mode in the first installment of the Conduit. The story just seemed bland and weak. The story of the Conduit 2 takes place right after the ending of the Conduit, with Ford finding his way through a conduit and straight into a fast ocean.  The story unfolds as Ford, with the help of Prometheus, pursuing the evil-doer John Adams. Somehow Ford finds himself in a facility at the bottom of the ocean, which is ironically called Atlantis.  Here Ford runs across some power armor that makes you more powerful or something. (not clear why) After meeting Andromeda, who at first seems like a broken lover of Prometheus, you find yourself globetrotting around the world, in search of three Progenitors, to help you take down Adams. The story goes on and takes a few twists and turns, some of them interesting, some of them which leave you scratching your head. Overall the story is the weakest part of the game. Not saying it’s horrible, just a little confusing…ok maybe a little more than a little.

High Voltage spent a lot of time working on game mechanics. The ability to customize your controls, to you heart’s desire, is still there. The use of Motion Plus to stabilize the controls does help but I still found myself spinning around after having a giant sneeze.

One of the greatest improvements for the Conduit 2 is the use of the environments and the much-improved AI. When Ford busts into a room, with guns-a-blazing, he is met by more than just mindless zombies shooting helplessly in the air. The enemies this time seem to have some brains to them. Instead of just standing there and taking whatever punishment that can be dished out, the AI will at least try to knock over a table and hide. Some groups will even make plans to try and sneak up on you. Not to say there is not those few bad guys that will find themselves in a world of rainbows and unicorns…that is until you hit them in the back of the head with your gun.

High Voltage spent a lot of time working on the Conduit 2’s online experience. As many of you may remember, the Conduit online experiences was hit and miss. When you finally hit the question then became how long it would take before it was missed again. For all the times I played online matches, Conduit 2 seemed to hold up really well. The match connecting speeds were quick and painless. I experienced no dropped games and only a little lagging at the beginning of one match. A lot of the maps from the first one are back, with some grunge looking redesigns, which seem to make them like new again. The only complaint I had about my online experience was the lack of game modes. There are only a hand-full of options to choose from and those I can see get old.

Conclusion

Conduit 2 offers the same flexibility as the first Conduit with some improvements.  The addition of motion plus to help stabilize the Wii-mote helps out a lot. It is hard to complain too much about controls that are fully customizable. If you do not like something, just change it. In fact, the only complaint one may have is it being too customizable. I found myself spending a good 30 minutes, before even killing the first bad guy, trying to find what controls work the best for me. Even then I found myself going back in and tweaking them a little more.

Some may say the Conduit 2 falls short compared to other Wii shooters. I have even seen one review give it a worse score than its predecessor, when the Conduit 2 is clearly better than the first. Yes, it may not matchup 100% well with other Wii shooters but I found myself enjoying and having fun playing through the game. Which to me, are the two important parts of gaming.

If you enjoyed the first Conduit, even a little, you will really enjoy the Conduit 2.

Pros

-Motion plus is a nice addition.

-Online is a lot better.

-AI advancement is a little breath of fresh air.

-Fully customize controls until your heart is content.

Cons

-Confusing story.

-Graphics seemed to be the same. Would have expected them to be better for the second attempt.

-Maybe a few more online options.